1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheeled cargo-carrying vehicle, and more particularly concerns a trailer adapted to dump its cargo downwardly upon the ground in a single discharge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bottom dump vehicles or wagons are frequently used to transport a variety of dense bulk materials such as sand, gravel, salt, hot mix asphalt, coal, ores, and the like. One primary advantage of a bottom dump trailer or truck as opposed to a conventional hydraulic hoist dump truck is that there is no need for vertical elevation to discharge the cargo rearwardly. As such, bottom dump vehicles do not have the risks associated with conventional hydraulic hoist dump trucks such as interference with low electrical or telephone wires and the potential for tipping over due to vertical elevation of a hoisted cargo compartment, Another advantage is that bottom dump vehicles do not require expensive and failure-prone hydraulic systems employed in rear-dump hauling vehicles.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,183,852 and 3,558,190 disclose hopper cars having horizontally slideable gates or doors to control downward discharge of the contents of the hopper in order to produce an elongated windrow instead of a single large pile. One of the problems encountered with a single large pile is that the rear wheels of the vehicle ride on the sides of the pile, resulting in considerable damage to the sidewalls of the tires on said rear heels. Also, the pile will impact against an axle associated with the rear wheels. Said sliding doors require expensive heavy duty motors for operation, and the doors are subject to rapid wear due to friction created by sliding interaction with the cargo material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,818 to Reed and U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,084 to Swisher, et. al., disclose xe2x80x9clive bottomxe2x80x9d trailers which employ a horizontally oriented conveyor belt at the bottom of a cargo compartment to move the cargo rearwardly for controlled dumping to produce an elongated windrow.
Bottom dumping vehicles designed to discharge in a single dump of farm products such cotton and hay are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,457 and 3,698,767, respectively. However, said vehicles are designed to discharge their loads as integrated or shaped structures, and do not confront the need to travel over the discharged load.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a farm trailer cart that can dump a loose bulk cargo downwardly upon the ground in a single discharge pile and then be pulled over and away from said pile.
It is another object of this invention to provide a cart as in the foregoing object of simple, rugged construction amenable to low cost manufacture.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.
The above and other beneficial objects and advantages are accomplished in accordance with the present invention by a bottom dump trailer cart comprising:
a) a cargo compartment defined by a front wall, paired sidewalls, a rear wall adapted to swing rearwardly and upwardly, and a floor having a pair of pivotably supported dumping panels adapted to swing downwardly in the direction of said sidewalls to a dumping state which permits gravity discharge of the contents of the compartment,
b) latching means for controllably preventing movement of said rear wall,
c) at least one wheel positioned below each sidewall at a location that receives said panels in the dumping state,
d) a tongue assembly extending forwardly of said front wall and having means for releasable attachment to a towing vehicle, and
e) operating means associated with said tongue assembly for causing simultaneous movement of said panels and latching means to produce said dumping state wherein said rear wall is unlatched, and to produce a closed, transport state wherein said panels are upwardly drawn to intercontacting abutment, and said rear wall is secured in upright position by said latching means.